


The ultimate Rivals to Lovers AU but it's real life guys

by Saasan



Series: Twitter Thread Fics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fanfiction, M/M, Metafiction, Rivals to Lovers, that's it that's the fic, they both write fanfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 13:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23345512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saasan/pseuds/Saasan
Summary: Keith loves writing fanfiction for his beloved ship.  Most of the time, it's easy to ignore the other side of the fandom, but there's this one writer, Shiro...
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Twitter Thread Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679095
Comments: 7
Kudos: 125





	The ultimate Rivals to Lovers AU but it's real life guys

**Author's Note:**

> Behold a tweet thread.

Keith is active in a smallish but lively fandom. It's a mostly friendly community, but the ship wars can get ugly and, more often than not, Keith finds himself at the center of it.

It's not like he  _ tries  _ to engage, but he's far too popular a writer not to get targeted. Most of the time it doesn't bother him, but... Shiro. Shiro is the absolute king of his rival ship, and it irks Keith that he gets compared to this guy. Sure, he seems nice enough (tells his followers to knock it off when they flame too hard), but so what? Everyone has secret salt accounts, and in Keith's he's constantly airing his frustration over the guy. Shiro isn't even that good a writer, anyway--his ship is just more popular. That's why he has more fans (obviously).

Still, Keith would rather have a thriving, happy fandom than engage with Shiro, so he lets it alone.

Almost. 

But then some newbie named Lance starts practically worshiping Shiro and Lance is mutuals with half of Keith's friends, so he keeps seeing the posts. It doesn't matter how many words he mutes, either (thanks Twitter): Shiro inevitably invades his timeline.

One day, Keith has had it. There's  _ no way _ Shiro's writing is even half as good as people claim, and he's going to prove it. Keith devotes a chunk of time and steels himself for the cringe of a lifetime from immersion in his rival ship, and then he starts reading.

Holy.

Shit.

Shiro is amazing.

Now, Keith still hates the ship and hates reading about it, but damn if Shiro's writing doesn't almost make up for it. He's  _ incredible  _ and Keith can't help but plow through fic after fic, even if it is torture. He starts taking notes, scribbling down thoughts on character portrayal that he can try utilizing in his own writing--not plagiarizing, of course. Keith has way too much self respect for that. But, he  _ notices  _ the good ideas and finds himself thinking about them. He finds himself improving on them.

In fact, Shiro's writing and insights are so good that Keith decides to take the ultimate plunge: reading Shiro’s explicit fics.

He'd avoided them before (because barf), but he's run out of fluff. It's either this or nothing.

It's not as painful to read as he thought it would be, but that's largely because he's distracted by how freaking obvious Shiro's kinks are. It's hilarious. It's like the guy is physically incapable of writing a sex scene that doesn't involve rimming, restraints, or both. (And isn't it awfully convenient how there's  _ always  _ restraints of some kind around then the characters need them, but that's beside the point.)

It's funny enough that Keith wants to share it with someone, but there's no way in hell he's telling his followers he's been reading Shiro's works (and especially not his smut), so he figures, why not make a throw away account?

It could be useful to have an account he can use to follow the other ship's stuff (and maybe gain access to Shiro's salt account and have a good laugh over it). And yeah--it's not mature, but whatever. No harm, no foul.

So, Keith sets up the trash account and starts getting involved. He pokes fun (gently) at Shiro's smut when the guy posts new stuff and is immediately branded a troll. 

Fair enough.

Well, it was worth a shot, and it's not like it was a huge waste of time to set up. He's about to log out and call it quits for good when he gets a notification. Shiro replied to his post. Curious, Keith clicks on it.

"If you don't like it, do better."

Oh, it's fucking  _ on _ .

Keith writes the filthiest possible PWP. It is dirtiest thing he's ever written by far, and he feels like he needs to take a shower at the end of it, but  _ fuck  _ if it isn't amazing. 

He drops the fic and replies to Shiro's comment with a link to the work, and calls it good.

And that is when shit hits the fan.

Lance calls out Keith's throwaway account. He recognizes the writing style and, instead of realizing it's Keith, he accuses the impostor of shameless plagiarizing. 

It's actually kind of sweet of him.

Keith's fake account is dragged through the mud by all sides of the fandom, for once uniting the ships into righteous rage at a common foe. How dare he steal from another writer (hah)! How dare he try to take Shiro down with him (HAH)! How dare he sully Keith's name (LMAO)!!!

Lance is simultaneously his strongest support and his most ruthless critic. Keith can't stop laughing. The only way he responds to the outcry is to get back on the throwaway and ask "Why--was it not good enough?"

Shiro says nothing for two whole days. Keith doesn't actually care, but it is weird. Shiro is usually active practically every hour. Whatever. The important thing is: he fucking won.

Only...then Shiro responds.

"I can't stop wanking."

And why exactly does that make Keith so proud?

The fandom goes nuts. Why is Shiro defending this guy? Doesn't he care about plagiarism? Does he not consider this to be a serious issue?

Shiro promises them: "I'll care as soon as I run out of lube, I swear."

Keith is insufferably proud. He's also a bit concerned by how out of hand everything is getting. His friends are positively frothing with rage on his behalf and the other shippers are now getting mad at Shiro, and it's not Shiro's fault Keith's writing is just  _ that  _ good.

Against his better judgement, Keith decides to get involved, and he responds to Shiro's post.

"Glad you like my style that much."

He throws in a winking face for good measure.

Shiro is back at him immediately with "Do you take commissions?"

The fandom loses all control. Memes are shared about it clearly being the end of the world if these two are getting along. Some declare it "the ultimate rivals-to-lovers AU" and pretend (?) to ship Shiro and Keith. They even get their own ship name: Sheith.

Shiro posts a screenshot of himself following Keith's account with the caption "Your move, buddy ;)"

People start posting nsfw fanart of their avatars.

It's chaos, and it's hilarious, and Keith has no idea what to do. There's been mounting pressure from his fans to go after the impostor, and he decides to address that issue first.

He posts a long, thoughtful thread about plagiarism, creativity, and borrowing styles. He points out that whoever wrote the piece had clearly spent a lot of time reading Shiro's work, too, as there were key elements of his style (and all of his kinks), so wouldn't that make Shiro a "victim", too? He said he was impressed at how well the impostor wrote (lmao) and said he was complimented to be emulated and that he was extremely touched by the fandom's response on his behalf. He hoped no one would bully the person who wrote the piece (dear god please don't dox me).

It was a good post, really, and Keith is proud of it. He concludes with a screenshot of himself following Shiro back and captions it with "DMs are open, buddy. :)"

The fandom declares it International Peace Day and a new fandom holiday.

Shiro slides into his DMs almost instantly. 

"I have a confession: I wasn't just wanking to that fic. I was wanking to yours."

Keith considers printing this and hanging it on his wall, maybe even going for poster size. He doesn't have a clue what to type back, but: poster.

Shiro continues: "I just gotta know one thing--did you write that one, too?"

Keith hesitates. A cynical part of him fears that Shiro will screenshot and post his answer. The backlash in the fandom would be terrible. Everyone is finally getting along, and Keith doesn't want to risk it. He also doesn't want to risk the personal backlash. But, he also really wants to talk to Shiro about writing. He wants to geek out about certain works and tell him his favorite parts and tease him for other stuff. He wants to be his friend.

Keith: "Would you believe me if I said no?"

Keith regrets it immediately. It sounds accusatory and he didn't mean it that way. What the hell was he thinking? He starts typing another message to explain away what he said, but Shiro interrupts him.

Shiro: "I would believe you either way, but I gotta say that I've been hoping it was you."

Keith has no idea what to do with that, either (except make another poster). He settles on the truth.

"I got tired of hearing how great your writing is, and then I read it. You're incredible."

He quickly adds: "Still hate your ship, though."

Shiro sends him back happy gifs and laughing ones and tells him "I still hate yours, but you write smut way better than I do. Teach me??" 

Oh shit. There's a lot of flirtatious replies that immediately spring to mind. Instead, he offers honest advice. Shiro laps it up eagerly and somehow, the conversation turns flirtatious anyway.

Shiro points out that smut is fantasy, so people should write about the things they want to try. Keith asks if that means Shiro only wants to try two things.

Shiro's next fic is a lot sluttier.

They don't meet in person until the next big convention, but they've been long distance dating for months and have had truly obscene amounts of phone sex. 

They don't interact much in the fandom in public, but they tag each other in all their nsfw fanart. They get spotted together at the con, holding hands shyly and smiling like idiots and neither one protests when people ask for pictures. 

Keith's throwaway account ends up getting updated once per year, on Shiro's birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this didn’t have a conclusion, lol. Just kinda randomly had a thought about Sheith getting involved in fandom, and this happened. I hope you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun with it. Follow me on Twitter @decidedlysarah for more fic fun!


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